We are exactly one month away from our International Annual Conference (IAC) when I am writing this president’s message for the September newsletter, and I can assure you that everyone involved in the organization of our major annual event is starting to feel the vibes. Good vibes, as once more this year’s conference is promising to be the ASEM highlight of the year.

Our hosts Ertunga Ozelkan and Mike Ogle from the Systems Engineering and Engineering Management (SEEM) Department of the UNC-Charlotte have selected a great venue, less than a quarter mile away from the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Could there be a better place to inspire engineering managers to reflect on how to achieve top performance of organization, man and machine around the world? Ertunga and Mike have lined up inspiring keynote speakers from industry and academia (checkout their bio here). They have organized interesting industry tours to Daimler’s Truck Manufacturing Plant and Siemens Turbine Manufacturing Plant, and have planned a social event that will allow you to get a taste of Uptown Charlotte as well.

Thanks to your massive participation, our experienced technical program committee (thank you Suzie Long, Ean Ng, Craig Downing, and Bimal Nepal!) has been able to create an impressive program of close to 200 presentations, eight workshops, and three panel discussions. I particularly want to thank Alice Squires and Ken Sexe for bringing an elite group of industry leaders together for our second industry roundtable that aims to uncover the most challenging issues in engineering management. I see this roundtable as an important instrument to keep us grounded in reality. Discussions on overcoming obstacles, implementing best practices, and sharing lessons learned, are vital to keeping our EM Body of Knowledge current and to orient future products and services of ASEM. Further, our many international participants will find value in attending the international panel, organized by our International Director, Simon Philbin, in collaboration with speakers from around the world, who will share their experience as international ambassadors of ASEM in their countries.

Last but not least, the IAC allows us to recognize volunteers who have provided exceptional service to the society, as well as individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of engineering management in general. You will be impressed by the winners of our various awards. They all have been elected through a new awards election process that over the last months has been optimized under the professional guidance of our president-elect Heather Nachtmann.

It is a pleasure to announce that through this new award process, the ASEM Board has elected Major General Albert Husniaux, the First Chief Scientist of NATO’s Science and Technology Organization, as the winner of this year’s Engineering Manager of the Year Award. I cordially invite you to the Awards Banquet on Friday evening, October 28, to welcome our winner and to learn from his experiences in engineering management throughout his career.

In short, if you didn’t sign up for the conference yet, then please do so right away. You don’t want to miss any of this!

Geert Letens, PhD, PEM(TM)

ASEM President 2015-2016

Please send your thoughts and comments directly to Geert at: President@asem.org